LETTER FROM ISTANBUL
A dozen or so demonstrators, most of them young gathered in front of the Süreyya Opera House on Saturday, February 10, in Kadiköy, on Istanbul's Asian side. But they barely had time to unfurl a banner in favor of LGBTQ+ rights before they were arrested. Seven of them ended up at the police station. "We will not abandon cities to your profits and our trans lives to your hatred," proclaimed the banner. The press release due to be read out by the rally's organizers, Istanbul Trans Pride Week, said they "wanted to respond to the attacks fueled and supported by the political establishment and its partners in recent times."
In today's Turkey where public discourse has consistently targeted LGBTQ+ communities for years, banning pride marches, banning the rainbow flag and prosecuting associations, the scene could be unremarkable. The only notable difference is that the authorities' rhetoric seemed to have widened its scope: The day before, state television TRT began broadcasting True Colours, a documentary series about the "LGBTQ+ lobby," on its international platform. According to the channel, the episodes, covering half a dozen themes, were intended to "explore the untold stories of those who have been affected by the spread of gender ideology." Above all, they demonstrated a new narrative dimension of government, built on the most reactionary discourses from abroad, largely from the English-speaking world.
Interviewees included, in no particular order, an anti-trans feminist teacher and activist, a teacher "canceled" from some academic networks for condemning the "promotion of sexuality to children," a Canadian weightlifter suspended by her federation for criticizing a trans athlete, and a teacher fired after making comments about a teenage girl who was transitioning. The interviews are enhanced with an effective sense of imagery, timing and on-screen inlays of words like "pedophilia," "suicide," "dark side" or "totalitarian," in a dramaturgical and obscurantist logorrhea that even the most radical publications would scarcely dare express.
"This anti-LGBTQ+ campaign is surprising in more ways than one," emphasized Yildiz Tar, a member of the Kaos GL association, speaking on the online news channel Medyascope. "Firstly, it looks like investigating a crime using North American conspiracy theories. What's even more disturbing is that TRT is a very local medium, whereas here the contributors are almost all foreigners. It's a bit like they're trying to legitimize their plans in Turkey with words from elsewhere." Words that have their origins in a globalized far right, which is itself "very anti-Muslim."
You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.